The first person met on a journey, or the first person to enter a house on New Year's Day. The qualtagh carried significance: a dark-haired man was lucky, a woman or a red-haired person less so. The custom shaped behaviour at the turning of the year and reflected the Manx understanding that thresholds and beginnings carried particular power. The qualtagh tradition connects to the wider Celtic belief in the significance of first encounters and first footings.